Elvis on the Titanic

Chapter 11 - Singing in the 1st Class Dining Hall

"Mr. Heartley, it's a pleasure."

I shook the violin player's hand, a man who looked around forty and had black hair with white feathered near his ears. The band of string instrument players had arrived about ten minutes ago, and I had been getting acquainted with all eight of them, Mr. Hartley being the last of them. I surmised that he was the leader to this band.

"The pleasure is mine," said the man in a British accent, holding his violin and bow. "It will be an honor to play with who the people are calling the Titanic Singing Sensation."

I smiled gratefully. "It will be an honor to perform with all of you fine gentleman as well."

One of the other band members needed Mr. Hartley and he turned his attention to that member. I stared at these men for a moment as we were standing near the little stage, and a few of the band members were on it, mainly the bass player, the cellists, and the piano player. These were the men who played on the decks as the ship was sinking. According to what I was told, none of them made it.

Well, hopefully I could change that.

I checked my watch and saw that it was almost two. I came up to the stage with the rest of the band and put on the tan guitar that Mr. Samuels found for me. Thankfully, it had a strap so I wasn't constantly holding it like I did the guitar in 3rd and 2nd class. I turned around to the band.

"Fellas, thank you again for being willin' to play while I sing."

"It's our pleasure," said Mr. Hartley. "I haven't played with a singer before, so this will be new to me."

"Me as well," said the man on the bass, and another violinist agreed.

"A friend of mine was in the Diamond Saloon last night and heard you sing," said the pianist, also in a British accent. "I'm rather excited to play along with such talent."

I smiled graciously again. "Thank you. I just hope that these 1st class people will like this style of music."

"These people may seem a bit stuffy," said another violinist who hadn't spoken yet, "but they are mostly good people. When we have played for the past couple of days, they were quite alright."

These men were a European mixture, mostly from England, and never had met one another before the Titanic set sail. With how well I had heard that they played together, from Mr. Samuels, that was some talent in and of itself.

"Gentlemen," said Mr. Samuels as he approached us, and people began sitting at tables in the stage area. "The people are gathering, and the ones who are sitting particularly close to the stage are people who want to hear music as they eat and socialize. I say we start off with a practice run, and after, we will see what they think."

"I like it," said Mr. Hartley, then to me, "We will follow you."

"Alright," I said as the first song on my list came to mind. I would have to sing all the vocals, and the instruments will sound more orchestral with violins, but the guitar was added. No drums.

As I started singing and playing, people's attention turned to me. I saw women's mouths open, I wasn't sure if they were appalled or impressed. When the song was through, I looked back at the men. They all had grins on their faces.

"Incredible," said the bass player. I turned back to the people.

"I agree," said Mr. Samuels near the stage. "You have their attention."